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André van Zyl
Public health consultant with research data management experience
André is a public health professional with a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. He has around ten years’ work experience, of which four years is in a research-related role. For the past two years, he has been responsible for monitoring and managing the data collection of a research project with 27 sites in three South African provinces. His responsibilities include building electronic data collection tools on CommCare, developing training material (video, presentations, documents), training staff on using the data collection tools, remote monitoring of data collection and operations, remote staff support, analysis, and reporting on implementation progress. He would like to continue working on projects requiring his skills in electronic data collection, data management, epidemiology, analysis, and monitoring and evaluation.
Education
University of Pretoria
Master of Public Health
2016
Thesis: Health education resources available to high school Life Orientation educators in Tshwane, South Africa.
Professional Experience
Research Assistant
Nelson Mandela University Department of Nursing
Oct 2011 - Jul 2012
Title of the research: Help-seeking behaviour, barriers to care and experiences of care among persons with depression in Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Behavioral Therapist
Zizi Centre for Children with Autism
Feb 2014 - Jul 2014
Support Consultant
Jan 2014 - May 2016
- Supported the implementation of the ITSI eLearning platform in South African schools.
- Training teachers and learners on how to use the ITSI eLearning platform.
- Quality assurance on electronic textbooks.
- Developing training material.
- Provided helpdesk support.
- Testing of the ITSI eLearning platform and recommending product improvements.
Research Assistant
Mar 2016 - Sep 2016
Title of the research: Addressing tobacco smoking and drinking to improve TB treatment outcomes in South Africa: a feasibility study of the “ProLife” programme
Data Administrator
The Foundation for Professional Development
Sep 2016 - Sep 2017
I supported the data and implementation teams on the following projects:
- Assessment of mental health care services provided in public health clinics in four districts in SA, 2016-2017
- Validation of TB stigma scales in Buffalo City Metropolitan, Nkangala and Tshwane Districts in South Africa
- Phased implementation of a public health program: cryptococcal antigen screening and treatment in South Africa
- Investigating the acceptability, feasibility and outcomes of home-based TB testing of household contacts using a new, mobile point of care technology
- Pilot study of STI screening and treatment for PMTCT
Data Manager
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Sep 2017 - Present
- Project planning and implementation related to data collection and management.
- Questionnaire improvement.
- Development of the mobile data collection application on the CommCare platform.
- Configuration of the short text messaging system used to communicate with participants.
- Drafting of technical aspects of the protocol.
- Training of coordinators and fieldworkers on using Android OS, internet communication tools, the data collection application, and questionnaire completion.
- Develop video recordings, presentations, and documents used to train field staff.
- Provision of local and remote technical and data collection support to 27 fieldworkers and 3 project coordinators.
- Ensure that researchers are blinded.
- Remote monitoring of data collection process and quality of submitted data.
- Data cleaning.
- Creation of project performance reports and visual data representations using RStudio. My resume is an example of such a report written in RStudio.
Title of the research: ImPROving TB outcomes by modifying LIFE-style behaviours through a brief motivational intervention followed by short text messages (ProLife): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Volunteer Experience
Lay counselor
South African National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO)
Mar 2012 - Nov 2012
Junior Public Health Association of South Africa (JuPHASA) Secretary
Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA)
Oct 2015 - Sep 2016
Professional Development Courses
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (SIT TESOL)
2012
Counselor and Support Group Facilitator Training
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group
2013
Data Science Specialization (95% Completed)
Offered by Johns Hopkins University on Coursera
N/A
2019
Publications
Mixed-methods evaluation of mental healthcare integration into tuberculosis and maternal-child healthcare services of four South African districts.
BMC Health Services Research volume 19, Article number: 83 (2019)
N/A
2019
Kathryn L. Lovero, Samantha L. Lammie, André van Zyl, Sharon N. Paul, Phuti Ngwepe, Jennifer J. Mootz, Catherine Carlson, Annika C. Sweetland, Rachel C. Shelton, Milton L. Wainberg & Andrew Medina-Marino